Rough Road to Travel
by ObscureEnough
Summary: Hunted by the Alliance and being chased by Reavers, the crew of Serenity take a chance on the dimensional rip in front of them. But have they led Reavers to humanity's home world?


**Prompt/Prompter:** eldestmuse; Stargate SG1/Firefly; While running from the law, Mal and crew discover a strange portal. Trapped between Reavers and the Alliance, they decide to go through it once Kaylee and River team up to figure out how it works. But have they led the Reavers to humanity's homeworld?

**Disclaimer:** Don't own or claim rights to Stargate SG1 or Firefly

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><p>"This is <em>tian fuhn di fu<em>," Mal muttered, gazing out the cockpit window.

"It's _feng le_ is what it is," Jayne snorted.

"_Shi ma_?" Mal demanded. "You got a better idea."

Jayne scoffed. "Gorram purple-bellies huntin' us and _cheong bao ho tze_ Reavers behind us? I'm thinkin' this may be _feng le_ but it's the only plan we got right now that don't leave us humped for sure."

Mal looked out to the iridescent tear in (apparently) the space-time continuum, and couldn't help but agree. In the back of his head, he heard his former pilot yelling, 'Oh god, oh god, we're all gonna die!' "Don't even think it, Li'l Albatross," he muttered.

"It's gonna work, Cap'n," Kaylee assured from her corner of the cockpit.

"Ain't you supposed to be in the Engine Room?" Mal demanded, turning to his mechanic.

"Not yet," Kaylee soothed. "I got plenty of time afore I have to get back there. I just wanted to look at the pretty."

"The pretty?" Mal did not squeak. "That _ri shao gou shi bing_ thing out there is a celestial terror; it is not _pretty_!"

"Relax, Cap'n," Kaylee smiled. "You know me an' River looked the numbers over. Well, River looked the numbers over, and I know Serenity can handle it." She looked at the bulkhead and caressed it. "Serenity's real shiny like that."

"Zoë," Mal mused, "you ain't said not a word about this."

Zoë pursed her lips and shook her head. "_Juh guh jee hua juhn kuh pah_!" she muttered. "Don't see no way but forward, sir," she admitted.

"_Ni men dou bi zui_," River growled. "Some people are trying to fly. Kaylee, I need you in the Engine Room now. Everyone else, be elsewhere."

"Right, people," Mal announced as he straightened, "strap in. It's bound to be a bumpy ride."

* * *

><p>Rodney squinted at the display. "It's amazing that this wormhole has remained stable for so long."<p>

"I know," Sam nodded. "Although, the way the energy levels are spiking, I don't think it's going to be stable for too much longer. Still, the data we're receiving is amazing."

"Data, shmata," Jack scowled, "just so long as nothing comes out of there shooting at us."

"Did you just jinx us?" Rodney demanded. "I thought you knew better than that, _General_ O'Neill. Now we're going to get something that makes the Goa'uld and the Wraith _and_ the Replicators look like small fry."

"Oh, for crying out loud," Jack protested, "weren't both of you just saying how it isn't stable enough for travel? And isn't it winding down, or something?"

Rodney humphed. "Doesn't matter. Any minute now, something really dangerous is going to come out of that wormhole and chew us up."

Hoping to forestall Jack's next words, Sam rushed in. "We're on the _George Hammond_, we have a full complement of fighters, and are fully capable of defending ourselves."

Jack looked at Sam, then at Rodney. "You're right, we're jinxed."

"Sir!" Sam cried, aghast. If she had planned to say more, she was side-tracked by a sudden flash from the wormhole.

"See?" Rodney muttered. "I said something was going to happen, but no one believes me, no, I'm only the smartest person _on this ship_, why would anyone believe me?"

"Oh, can it, Rodney," Sam muttered. "Status of our shields?" she called out.

The next few minutes were a flurry of activity, then everyone turned to wait for developments. They were surprised to see a dinky little fat-bellied ship sail through the wormhole, only to turn and head towards them.

The comms officer turned to Sam. "We're being hailed, Ma'am."

"Put it on," Sam nodded.

"- seeking assistance. Repeat, this is the mid-bulk transport _Serenity_, seeking assistance. We may have been followed through the wormhole by pirates seeking to kill any and all they find. Do you read me?"

"Transport _Serenity_, this is the USS _George Hammond_" Sam began, "what is your status?"

"We appear to be fine, but we are unarmed, and we're being pursued by pirates," _Serenity_'s pilot explained. "Are you able to help us?"

"If the pirates make it through the wormhole, we can offer you shelter, but you would need to remain on your ship until we can get things sorted," Sam decided.

"That's fine by us," a man's voice answered. "Can you tell us where we are, by chance? We can't get a thing up on our nav systems."

"You just came through a wormhole," Rodney snorted. "Are you really expecting to be at the same coordinates?"

"Course I ain't," the man shot back, "but there ain't nowhere in the 'Verse as ain't on the Cortex, and this place ain't."

"Can you believe this?" Rodney demanded. "We have a yokel in command of a ship."

"Well, _apparently_," the man said, sounding aggrieved, "we ain't in our 'Verse no more, or so my pilot says. Don't ask me, I ain't the genius here."

"Well, that's obvious," Rodney muttered.

"Sounds like my pilot won't be the only brat on board the ship," the man returned. "Anyways, we're comin' up on you. My pilot wants to know where she should dock. Though, genius as she is, why she can't just figure it out her own self I don't know," he added in a teasing voice.

Sam gave instructions about which bay to dock at, and turned back to monitor the wormhole. It was already showing signs of a vessel in transit, and as they watched, a very different ship exited the event horizon. Where _Serenity_ could possibly be classed as cute, this ship was anything but. As it approached, it appeared less and less friendly, charging straight for them without any attempt to contact them, instead transmitting what appeared to be screams.

Sam indicated for the comms officer to open a channel. "Unidentified ship, this is the USS _George Hammond_: we request you stand down immediately."

There was no reply, and the ship continued to approach at a reckless speed. "Unidentified ship, this is the USS _George Hammond_, if you do not halt your approach we will be forced to take action."

Once again, the new ship failed to respond, and Sam's various officers were feeding her increasingly disturbing information. She looked at Jack, who nodded solemnly. "Unidentified ship, if you do not turn around immediately, I will be forced to fire upon you."

The aggressor showed no signs of halting their attack, so Sam, grimacing at the necessity, gave the order. Within moments, the ship disappeared in a bright explosion, and the screams were finally silenced. Sam looked away from the diminishing wreckage to the now-collapsing wormhole. As she watched, it flashed, then disappeared.

"It's what you had to do," Jack offered.

Sam nodded stiffly. "Well, I suppose we'd better meet these new people," she said finally.

* * *

><p>Sam picked a speck of lint off her uniform, and waited for the hatch to open. She was very excited to see inside this transport, as it was nothing like anything she'd seen before, and spoke of a civilisation that used interstellar transport much the way they used cross-country services.<p>

"Still wish we had a squadron of Marines with us," Rodney grumbled. "Or Ronon, Ronon's good. Teyla, too. Hell, I'd even have John, he's not useless in a fight."

"I'll be sure to let your team-mates know how your feel," Jack smirked.

Sam turned to shush them, but they were all distracted by the sound of the hatch opening. Once the ramp was fully extended, they strode up and entered what appeared to be the hold. Waiting for them was a man with a red shirt, tight pants, suspenders and boots, with a woman and a man, similarly dressed, on either side. The all _appeared_ to be unarmed, but Jack wouldn't put it past any of them to have weapons secreted somewhere on their bodies. To the back was another group of people, a man and two women, all looking a lot more harmless than the trio in front of them.

The man in the middle strode forward, hand outstretched. "I'm Malcolm Reynolds," he introduced, smiling, "and I'm Captain of this here ship, _Serenity_, and these are my crew. This is Zoë," he nodded to the woman to his left, "she's my First Mate, and that there is Jayne. Back of us are our doctor, Simon, our mechanic, Kaylee, and our pilot, River."

"The supposed genius," Rodney blurted before anyone could stop him.

"River _is_ a genius," the doctor scowled. "I don't even have to know you to say that in comparison you are a babbling child."

"Now see here –" Rodney began.

"Rodney!" Sam shouted, grabbing him as he surged past.

"Simon," Mal growled back at the doc. He turned back to the others. "Look, I get that you all are real smart, but Simon's right. There's genius, and then there's River. Simon says he was top three per cent, or some such, but he says that _he's_ a babblin' child in comparison, so you're in good company. I dare say the rest of us are slobberin' dogs if it's any comfort."

"Woof," Jack murmured to Sam, getting a huffed 'Sir!' in return.

Sam smiled at the strangers. "I'm Colonel Sam Carter, Commanding Officer of the USS _George Hammond_, and this is General Jack O'Neill and Doctor Rodney Mackay," she introduced, indicating each man in turn. Welcome to the _George Hammond_. Perhaps we could discuss what happened, and what you plan to do from now on," she suggested.

Mal took a deep breath. "Well, accordin' to River, there ain't no way back to our 'verse."

"Oh, yes, because we're going to take a child's word on this," Rodney scoffed.

Sam gave a tight smile. "Rodney, do I need to send you away?" She waited until Rodney huffed but subsided before going on. "Well, I suppose you can't stay on _Serenity_ forever, so we're going to have our medical staff check you over, and then you can be assigned rooms."

"Uh, you mind my askin'," Mal began, "but what happened to them Reavers?"

"Reavers?" Sam asked, confused.

"Pirates," River supplied from her place in the back.

"Oh," Sam winced. "They refused to stand down on my repeated instruction and warning, so I ordered my people to fire on them. The ship was destroyed."

"_Sheh sheh_," Mal nodded grimly. "Reavers … they ain't a thing you're like see, nor do you want to. Kill you, rape you, eat you; that order, if you're lucky."

Rodney paled suddenly, and turned on Jack. "I told you," he hissed. "Didn't I tell you?"

"Yeah, yeah," Jack grunted. "So these Reavers: what are they, where do they come from, and how do we defeat them?"

Mal grimaced. "Well, like as they won't be comin' this way, but… They was men, once upon a time. Parliament made the Pax to calm men down, tried it on a planet called Miranda. And it worked. Men got so calm they laid down and died, simple as anything. But on some, some little bit of a population, it did the opposite, turned 'em mad. They ain't men no more, and they travel about finding them as they can, and, well…

"We've fought Reavers," Mal went on after a moment. "You can't show mercy – they don't understand it, they can't. Only merciful thing to do is end them. Do it quick, do it clean, and make the 'verse a better place as you do. It ain't killin', it's puttin' down a sick animal."

Sam closed her eyes against the information, but felt relief that she'd chosen the correct route. "Thank you. Well, if you would follow me, I'll take you to our medical facilities so you may be checked over. I'm sure you'd like to talk to some of our people, and I know we would love to get a look at some of your technology as well. Hopefully we can make it a mutually beneficial arrangement."

Mal glanced at is First Mate then looked back to River, who was looking out the hatch with a hopeful smile. She looked at him and nodded, and he relaxed. Mayhap this would turn out right for once. Maybe there was a future to be had now.

He could live with 'maybe'.

* * *

><p>Translations from the Firefly Wiki<p>

_tian fuhn di fu_ - complete disarray, sheer pandamoniom

_feng le_ - crazy

_shi ma_ is that so?

_cheong bao ho tze_ - monkey raping

_ri shao gou shi bing_ - pile of sun-baked dog poo

_juh guh jee hua juhn kuh pah_ - there's nothing about this plan that isn't horrific

_ni men dou bi zui_ - everybody, shut the hell up

_sheh sheh_ - thank you


End file.
